Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

OPINION

Obradovich: Branstad blames 'special interests' when he's not benefiting from them

Gov. Terry Branstad on Monday celebrated a $21 million legal settlement that Iowa will receive as a result of the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement of the Clean Air Act against Volkswagen.

“Iowa prides itself on being a state of natural beauty. A key for preserving that beauty is to be diligent in protecting our environment, particularly our air quality,” Branstad said. “As governor, I take protecting the quality of the air that we breathe very seriously, and Iowa has some of the best air quality in the nation.”

Within the same half hour, he also railed against “special interests” that he blamed for stalling his proposal to strip the state’s regulatory oversight of social workers, mental health therapists, barbers and other licensed professionals.

It appears the governor’s regard for the benefit of regulation is situational at best.

The money that Iowa will receive for clean-air projects is the result of settlements between the EPA and Volkswagen. The EPA complained that Volkswagen sold diesel vehicles with equipment that defeated federal emissions tests. Roughly 590,000 of the vehicles were sold in the United States from model years 2009 to 2016, according to EPA.

This enforcement action that Branstad touted was completed by the Obama administration’s EPA. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, appears to be making sure something like that never happens again. Reports from the Washington Post and other news media have described plans to slash the agency’s budget and staff, eliminating or severely reducing programs such as clean air and water grants to states like Iowa.

“I know we’re up against very organized and powerful special interest groups that have a lot of money, and they’ve worked very hard to get these restrictions in the law, and they’re interested in protecting themselves more than they are protecting the public,” Branstad said.

By the way, Americans for Prosperity, the very same powerful and well-funded special-interest group that helped drive the collective bargaining overhaul, was also backing his plan to reduce professional regulation.

Branstad is absolutely right that Iowa has too many boards and commissions. He has a point that sometimes these boards are used to stifle competition and protect practitioners over consumers. But his bill managed to unite thousands of Iowans in favor of protecting existing regulation.

Buy Photo

Kathie Obradovich(Photo: The Register)

I’m not sure which “powerful and well-funded special interest groups” sent more than 3,600 emails to Republican Rep. Bobby Kaufmann and accosted him about the bill every time he went shopping or out to eat. It seems to me the opposition was coming from people who thought their livelihood and credibility as professionals or their protections as consumers would be jeopardized if the government withdrew regulation.

The Republican leaders in state government can do a lot of good through their efforts to increase government efficiency, get outdated or ineffective laws off the books and to stop bureaucracy and red tape from hampering harmless business operations. But being good stewards of taxpayer dollars also means using effective regulation and enforcement to prevent pollution, not to just clean it up after the fact.

Iowans deserve better from their elected officials than hacking out beneficial regulation with the same blunt machete they use to clear underbrush out of the administrative code. And those who join hands with out-of-state special interests to enact legislation should not whine about the power of special interests.